


Our Past Shines a Light

by SleepySpeedster



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Angst, Established Relationship, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Mention of Other Foretellers, Nostalgia, Past Relationship(s), Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 07:40:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18027566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepySpeedster/pseuds/SleepySpeedster
Summary: Set sometime in the time after Ira finds Aced, but instead of leaving him the two regroup and Ira has been helping him take care of his injuries. However, Aced’s injuries are not the only source of worries. Ira is full of nostalgia and mourns the past with how bleak the present seems.





	Our Past Shines a Light

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and what you thought are always appreciated. Give this work a kudos if you liked it. Comments and kudos help me to create more work and figure out what I should work on.

           Aced had found Ira amongst a secluded garden of Daybreak Town. His injuries ached and throbbed, but regardless of the pain and how he needed to rest he had followed Ira at a distance, as the leader of the Foreteller's recent demeanor began to worry him. Within the residence Ira had holed the pair of them up and tended to his wounds Aced had noticed the lethargic way his body moved. He was quiet and sullen within that house, and while Aced had inquired with his own worry of Ira's health and suggested he rest, Ira in turn simply attempted to assure him that all was well and that he was the one in need of rest before leaving Aced alone in the bedroom.

           "Ira." Aced calls out to leader of the Unicornis as he spots him sitting on a bench by a hedge. His hands folded between his knees as he stares seemingly at nothing of importance.

           “There was once a time we were all apprentices together, Aced. A time before the masks and infighting. Simpler times.” Ira’s voice was soft amidst the already secluded garden of Daybreak Town. The light of the morning sky had vanished and night crept in with its shades and hues of slowly darkening blue.

           “I remember.” Aced had never heard such a somberness in Ira’s voice before. His injuries were still healing and they stung and burned with every movement, but he had followed Ira out of worry for the other man. His own wounds be damned for slowing him in this moment.

           “Things were different back then, Ira.” Simpler; sweeter seeming even. Amongst the six apprentices there had been a time when the masks had not been there to hide their faces. Every emotion they experienced had been open to the world. They laughed, smiled, cried with sadness and frustration, were rough, and even wild at times. Aced could still remember the way Ira’s fluffy white hair would flutter when they trained amongst the grassy hills and fields. Their sessions were always intense and they never failed to set something ablaze inside him. Their keyblades would sing as they sliced through the air, and when they clashed together Aced relished in the reverberation of power that ran through his arms as he pushed and Ira pushed back at him. Ira forced him further forward in those days and he did the same for Ira.

           But there were soft moments as well. He remembered well how he and the others teased Ira when he was first growing his beard. ‘Dignified’ was the word he had used. He wanted to look just dignified like the Unicorn, but he remembers how he had laughed at the fuzz that grew upon a young Ira's face, and how Invi, and Ava, and Gula had all succumbed to the contagiousness of his deep laughter. He even remembered how later that same day he went to apologize to Ira, but he was already resolute in his decision to keep his beard. He was ever the stubborn unicorn. Stubborn, proud, and dignified in all he did.

           However, even now hidden behind the visage of such a dignified creature Ira looked sullen and weak. Aced could not bear this.

           “Responsibility did not weigh on us all so heavily back then.” Aced continued as he stood and watched Ira closely. The smiles from their youth had disappeared and been replaced with tense grit teeth and pain with the weight of important decisions born upon all their backs. They all had their sense of just and what was right, and while they all may have had the same goal to protect the light...They all couldn't be right. 

           Where had the light from their youth gone? Aced could remember the past with ease and all the happy times they had. He could remember how sweet and hesitantly Ira's lips pressed to his in their youth and how his beard had tickled and scratched at his cheeks. He could still hear laughter that ensued between them just after. It still ringed loudly in his ears. 

           ...Things had simply changed. They were young and without responsibility.

           Ira sat upon one of the garden benches. His hands limp upon his knees, and his head bowed, “I miss those times, Aced. I miss them dearly. I miss how _we_ \- how _we all_ used to be.” A bitterness stung at his lips for the words he could not say. What would Aced think? This was not how a leader should act.

           With Aced’s first step toward Ira a groan of pain escapes him, but regardless of how his body aches and pains him with every movement, regardless of how Ira’s head snaps up towards him with worry so clear upon his face, he walks to where Ira sits in these dimly lit gardens and upon his knees he kneels at the leader of the Unicornis Union’s feet and clasps his hands unto his own, surrounding them like a protector.

           “We all miss those days, Ira. I miss them as well. I miss…how things used to be between _us_.” And just for a moment his heart guides him; his eyes close and gently he presses his lips to the knuckles of Ira’s hand, “These feelings are not gone, Ira. We may press further forward as each day goes on, but never is the past forgotten. Whatever my role may be I will always be by your side.” Was it not his duty to raise Ira up as their leader? To support him? Ira had supported him after the others had thought him the traitor. They had always been by at each other’s side whether they knew it or not; pressing the other further forward or comforting one another.

           They had always been by each other’s side.

           “Aced…” Tenderly Ira cups his cheek, a feeling Aced had not felt in many years since they became Masters. Ira’s hands though now rougher and more calloused with the use of his keyblade still shook with the same bit of timorousness they did all those years ago in the fields. And all those years ago Aced had teased that Ira that he was too dignified to express himself properly. A stroke of his cheek – the only affectionate touch Ira knew then – turned into a sudden kiss, then another as they rolled about the field, and felt the warmth of the other’s skin as dandelion fluff and dirt stuck to their clothes.

           “…Aced, please stand.” Ira’s pulls his hands away from Aced and places them upon his shoulder’s urging him to stand up and he does with Ira supporting him at his side “We should head back. I should have been the one tending to you and your injuries.” He speaks in voice filled with distance. One that leaves Aced lost and even somewhat hurt though Ira is right beside him, not even a mere arms length away from, but right in his grasp. Yet, still he is lost and silent as they begin to walk away from the gardens.

* * *

***

           The two walked the empty streets of Daybreak Town back to the residence in which they had been staying. Their steps against the brick walkways echoed loudly in the silent streets until Ira spoke up.

           “I’ve troubled you with my moping and nostalgia, Aced. Please forget what I’ve said and how I’ve acted today. I never meant to-” To what? To love you? Ira would choke on such false sentences, but this was not the way a leader should act. He shouldn’t have deigned to his emotions and desires at the moment they arose. He shouldn’t have let Aced so close; he shouldn’t have stroked his cheek like he used to, he shouldn’t have encourage him.

           “No.” Aced roughly rumbled as he stopped in his tracks and stopped Ira with him, “No, I won’t.” He wretched himself from Ira’s grip. He wouldn’t have this.

           “What?” 

           “I’m not going to forget, Ira. I refuse to forget.”

           “Aced!” His voice rings out in frustration, “Don’t you understand? We’re not young men anymore! Those days are past and remain in the past. I shouldn’t have dredged them up. They’ll only cause us pain.” After all his heart ached like no other in this moment.

           “Pain? Pain, Ira?” Aced steps toward Ira his hands clenched into fists, “To toss aside those memories would be pain for me. To pretend that I had never loved you- The pain would be incomparable.”

           His breath was lost from him. He loved him? “I-”

           “Do you not feel the same way? You would want to forget everything, Ira?”

           “No, of course not!” There was a rushed panic in his voice.

           “Then what is it that troubles you?!” The frustration mounts, Aced couldn’t understand what was wrong.

           “How can I lead when I am so preoccupied by the past, Aced?!” Ira’s fists are clenched at his sides, “How can I love you when I must also lead. I have a responsibility to ensure the light lives on, yet how can I focus on such when we are alone? I remember our time as apprentices, our times training in the fields, the laughter we shared. I cherish it too much. Yet, I can’t allow my heart and emotions to lead me astray.”

           “You say you can’t lead and love, or love and lead, but I don’t see it that way. You think it’s impossible to do both, but don’t you see that’s what you’ve been doing the entire time? You always do what is right. I know you won’t abandon me nor fail the light. Your heart is too strong, Ira.”

           “How can you be so sure?”

           Aced draws closer to Ira and cups his face in his hands and looks upon him. He remember the laughter and smiles that lit up his features as clear as the day, “Because I know you, Ira.”

           Their responsibilities may have mounted in the years, but nothing had truly changed between them.

           “You’ll always be by my side won’t you?” It wasn’t a question, but rather a realization upon Ira, placing his hand over Aced’s he kisses his palm. All would be well. They would protect the light.

           “Always.” Together.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Comments and what you thought are always appreciated. Give this work a kudos if you liked it. Comments and kudos help me to create more work and figure out what I should work on.


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